Pro-Choice Leaders Condemn GOP Insertion of Abortion Ban Into Year-End Spending Bill

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 -- Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colorado, issued the following news release:

Funding for cost-sharing reductions (CSRs) to help lower-income people pay for health care may be included in the continuing resolution on which both houses of Congress must vote in order to keep the government operating.

If this funding is included in the bill, House Republicans are demanding a provision that would keep health insurance plans from receiving CSR funds through the Affordable Care Act if they cover abortion services. As a result, countless women could be deprived of access to abortion via health insurance in the private market.

"As the deadline approaches to prevent a shutdown and a disastrous discontinuation of government services to Americans over the holidays, House Republicans are playing games to advance a narrow partisan agenda," Rep. DeGette said. "They're making matters worse by inserting harmful, anti-woman policies into the debate.

"It is unconscionable that Republicans are holding both government funding and health insurance markets hostage in their quest to deny women access to abortion. Every woman should be able to make personal decisions about reproductive health care with dignity and respect, and without interference from politicians."

"Republicans are unable to properly run the House, as witnessed by the revote we have to take on the tax bill that passed yesterday," Rep. Slaughter noted. "In addition, this would be the third continuing resolution of the year. A majority of Democrats in the Senate have already said they will not support it. Now, House Republicans will reportedly make it even less palatable by attaching this attack on women's health care. It is just their latest attempt in their never-ending crusade to prevent women from accessing their constitutional right to abortion coverage. It is unconscionable to use a funding bill to try and enact an extreme and likely unconstitutional conservative agenda."

CSR payments help make health care more affordable by lowering deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses for people who purchase health insurance coverage though the exchanges. As part of ongoing efforts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, President Trump halted CSR payments earlier this year.

Exacerbating this instability, Republicans in Congress also ensured that the tax legislation eliminated the ACA's individual mandate requiring Americans to have health insurance, a move projected to increase health premiums by 10%.

This Republican-produced instability has created a dire need for CSR funding among health insurers. By attaching abortion-coverage restrictions to CSR funds, dramatic declines in abortion coverage are likely to occur across the country, denying many women access to safe and affordable care.